Moving to Warrington

[Germany75]

Hello all,
My husband got a job with a company at Birchwood Business Park in Warrington and we are planning to move there this summer. As I am a mother of a 5 year old and a 1 year old I was wondering whether any Warrington mums could give me some advice on good schools and good areas for families to live?
We would like a nice area, family friendly with access to a park and not too rural. Also a good school nearby is important for us.
I have heard that Stockton Heath is a good place to live?
We currently live in Colwyn Bay.
Any suggestions? Thank you.

[Openmindedmonkey]

Hi Germany17, first of all, congratulations to your DH on his new job.
Yes, Stockton Heath is a 'good' area as are Walton, Appleton & Stretton; they're close to each other & S Heath is the main village hub for all.
They are quite expensive in comparison to the Northern side of town, simply cos of amount of countryside & perceived 'niceness'.
There will probably be a few be hundred new homes built in Appleton & Stretton over the next couple of years, undoubtedly putting pressure on the community services (especially schools). Please do your research carefully before you buy; full planning permission hasn't yet been granted but it's almost inevitable as the area has been marked out for housing for 30 years.
Schooling is great round there, recent Ofsted reports have been very positive (esp Stretton St Matthew's) & the improvements to S Heath Primary have been very significant after a couple of challenging years.
I live in the area & love it!

[Trottersindependenttraders]

Hi Germany, Stockton Heath is a nice place to live and I'd agree with openmindedmonkey that Walton, Appleton and Stretton are too. Grappenhall is also a nice place, the roads off Knutsford Rd can be a bit cheaper, solid 1930's houses and a lovely Chinese restaurant there! Good schools here with Bradshaw, Grappenhall Heyes and St Wilfred's (Church school). Walton Gardens is round the corner from these places with a big park and petting zoo. Thelwall is another one to look at.

At the other side of town is Croft and Culcheth, which are worth a look and handy for Birchwood. Great Sankey and Penketh are all fairly handy for the town centre and I think decent schools. That end of town tends to be cheaper than the Stockton Heath side for houses, not quite sure why. Woolston might be another place to look, handy for Birchwood and the M6 and M62. I'm less sure about the schools in Woolston if I'm honest.

Further afield, parts of Widnes such as Cronton and Rainhill in St Helens may fit the bill, it depends on your budget and what you are after really.

Happy house hunting and feel free to PM me if you want to.

[lavenderandrose]

Westbrook, Callands and Old Hall are also nice and we have lovely parks.

[Germany75]

Thank you very much all for your suggestions. You are very helpful I will follow and check out all the areas you mentioned. Thank you very much for the advice for the schooling too! Really appreciate it! I will let you know how we get on!

[Millimat]

monkey do you have a child at St Matthew's?
I agree re area (I'm Also in appleton) but house prices are ridiculous. Is so lovely if you're prepared to stretch the budget. I'd imagine it's significantly more than where you are at the moment.
I have friends who live in sandymoor which is very close to Walton but you get a lot more for your money because it's part of halton not Warrington. It's got a very good school.

[birdladyfromhomealone]

i know the area well and would suggest naice areas such as stockton Heath, Lymm, Croft and Culcheth

[BakerBear]

Avoid Wa2 postcode which is Orford and avoid Longford

[Openmindedmonkey]

Yes I do, millimat, do you?

Latest Ofsted inspection was 'outstanding', recent Diocesan one was also very good.

[Millimat]

Yep monkey. What year?

[Openmindedmonkey]

Seriously, millimat?!?

[Millimat]

Yes! Don't want to lose my anonymity on mumsnet though! I've a Junior child ( that narrows it down to 110 children!).

[Germany75]

Thank you again all for your suggestions I will explore the places you suggested and let you know!

[leccybill]

Warrington is a good town in general. The main indoor shopping mall is nice. Schools perform well, people are friendly.
The traffic is absolutely dreadful though- just a warning!

[Openmindedmonkey]

Good point leccybill. Main issue are north / south routes through Warrington as there's only 1 way (Bridgefoot, pretty much town centre). Bad on an everyday level, appalling if any M6 problems. Second crossing being planned though, just don't hold your breath!

Junior, too - that's all you're getting, millimat .

[Germany75]

Thank you Leccybill and open minded monkey for the advice. My husband does complain about the traffic but there is not much you can do about it! Let's hope we get a second crossing soon!

[leccybill]

Ooh, second crossing- where?

I commute north to south every day, it's no fun at all. And when the M6 is backed up, I pretty much abandon all hope of going home!

[Millimat]

Very true about the traffic!
Monkey, I now need to know!

[PJBanana]

Ok. I live in Warrington and used to work on a Birchwood business park.

Where you decide to live hugely depends on your budget. Stockton Heath, Grappenhall, Thelwall, Stretton and Lymm are all very nice areas but come with hefty price tags.

Great Sankey, Westbrook and Callands are quite nice areas where a very nice 4 bed house will cost around £200-280k. Look around Whittle Hall especially. A similar house in south Warrington would cost almost double what you would pay in this area.

I'm in Great Sankey and there are some lovely houses in the area. There will also be a new Warrington West train station opening on the Chapelford estate in the near future, as well as the existing Sankey for Penketh, so that's something to consider.

I would advise avoiding Culceth and Croft for the time being as I know people who live in those areas may be affected by HS2 at some point in the future.

[Germany75]

Thank you PJBanana I appreciate your advice. I understand from all the comments above that south Warrington is much more expensive so we will have to see how much we can stretch the budget!
My husband went to check out Stockton Heath yesterday he liked it he said it reminds him of Chester!
I also noticed while looking for properties on right move that there are some very good schools in Lymm too!
By the way PJBanana what do you mean when you say that Culceth and Croft may be affected by HS2?

[Newtssuitcase]

My DSis lives in Stockton Heath and loves it. Very upmarket, everything on your doorstep and rich pickings in the charity shops . I'm often envious of her designer buys for a couple of quid.

[PJBanana]

Stockton Heath is a really lovely area (as is the majority of South Warrington), like you say it just depends how far your budget will stretch. In the area around Great Sankey you can get a lot more house for your money though so it's definitely an area worth considering.

I'm not sure about all the technicalities but I know that the high speed rail line is supposed to pass very close to the area near Culceth and Croft. Just something worth being aware of as it may bring down house prices or cause noise etc. There were rumours a while ago about some houses potentially being demolished as they were directly on the route, although I don't know whether this is still the case.

[Trottersindependenttraders]

I'd forgotten about HS2 affecting Culcheth, good point. It will also pass by the east of Lymm but not so much that I am worrying about it.

I'm in Lymm and before that Grappenhall. I really like the area on our doorstep. Grappenhall village tends to be more expensive than the areas off Knutsford Road.

Yes, traffic through Warrington can be horrific. I would know that there was an issue on the M6 if I couldn't get out of my road onto the main road.

Certainly Great Sankey, Penketh and Whittle Hall have a range of properties in different budgets. Chapelford is the new (huge) development in that part of town with some houses still being built there.

[SunnyUpNorth]

We moved to Stockton Heath 5 years ago and LOVE it. Anywhere around here (grappenhall, Walton, Appleton etc) is great. I personally think it's better here than around culcheth, croft etc.

There have been a few similar threads:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1822618-Moving-to-Warrington-area-Advice-please

[SunnyUpNorth]

And here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1354813-Moving-to-Warrington-from-London

[leccybill]

There's been a few anti social behaviour issues on Chapelford, police have issued dispersal orders.
Just something to be aware of.